October has been a very busy month for me! Lots of knitting projects going on. I was able to squeeze in these two hats, for my new pattern Winterset Hat. Last month I bought a few knitting books, and one of them was "200 Fair Isle Motifs" by Mary Jane Mucklestone. I love creating color palettes, and really wanted to practice more with my stranded knitting. There are so many beautiful motifs in this book, it was really hard to only pick a few to combine into this pattern.

After creating my motif and working out all the math for the hat, it was time to pick out my colors. I rounded up all my odds and ends in worsted weight yarn and arranged them in a rainbow on my sewing table. After lots of mixing and matching (and charting on the computer) I came up with the two colorways pictured in the photo: a more traditional manly color palette and a very girly one for me. I absolutely love how they both turned out! I added a giant pom pom to my hat, because when it is cold outside I think it is perfectly acceptable to look a little silly.

The next challenge was the photography. I just bought a new camera and was very excited to use it. My husband is a somewhat reluctant model, and he usually ends up making his 'mean face' at the camera. So, after setting the timer, I chirped at him, "Ok, now pretend like you love me!" And this is the photo I got:

Not too bad, eh? Thankfully there weren't any 'mean face' photos in this photo-shoot. However, it was about 85 degrees outside so it was hard not to sweat profusely under our hats and jackets. But now the temperature has dropped significantly, and yesterday I spied my husband wearing his new hat while working at the computer.

Here is a bit more information about the pattern:

Ready to try stranded knitting? Winterset Hat is a fitted beanie with a section of stranded colorwork set on a background of plain Stockinette stitch. With twenty-three rounds of stranded colorwork, and only two colors worked per round, Winterset won’t be overwhelming for someone new to stranded knitting. For a more advanced knitter, this is a great project for making quick gifts. Worsted weight yarn makes Winterset a brief and satisfying knit that is perfect for using up leftover bits of yarn from previous projects.

Pattern includes color charts for both colorways pictured, plus three additional colorways and three blank charts to fill in with your own colors. Also included are a template and illustrated instructions for creating the pom-pom.